salt water

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Introductory Geology, Oswego State : One Thread

I have always wondered why our oceans have salt water, and why no small lakes or ponds contain salt water.

-- Nicholas Duval (nduval@oswego.edu), May 02, 2001

Answers

The salt in the oceans was originally in the rocks and soil of the Earth. Long ago, the oceans were fresh water, like the lakes. Ever since then, water has fallen onto the soil and drained, through lakes, into the oceans. Once in the ocean, it evaporates again, and repeats the cycle. Salt can't evaporate. So, the water fell on the land, and dissolved a very, very small amount of salt. It carried that salt to the ocean, and when the water in the ocean evaporated, the salt stayed behind. Over billions of years this eventually led to the oceans holding a large amount of salt. The lakes are not salty because the water which enters them leaves again by a different river, and doesn't evaporate away very much. Even if salt starts to concentrate in the lake, the incoming water tends to dilute it and carry it away again.

-www.pausd.palo-alto.ca.us/k6science/water/w_q_a/saltyo.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------

-- Brent Mathis (mathis@oswego.edu), May 02, 2001.


i think God made the ocean like that, and yeah over time more salt came in. We will not ever 100% know why the earth is like this but thats part of life.

-- not telling (morgan4391@yahoo.com), September 10, 2003.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ